Method and system for remote virtual visualization of physical locations

ABSTRACT

This application discloses methods, systems, and computer-implemented virtualization software applications and computer-implemented graphical user interface tools for remote virtual visualization of structures. Images are captured by an imaging vehicle of a structure and the captured images are transmitted to a remote server via a communication network. Using virtual 3D digital modeling software the server, using the images received from the imaging vehicle, generates a virtual 3D digital model of the structure and stores it in a database. This virtual 3D digital model can be accessed by remote users, using virtualization software applications, and used to view images of the structure. The user is able to manipulate the images and to view them from various perspectives and compare the before-the-damage images with images taken after damage have occurred. Based on all this the user is enabled to remotely communicate with an insurance agent and/or file an insurance claim.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application is a continuation of, and claims priority to U.S.patent application Ser. No. 17/068,592, filed on Oct. 12, 2020, andentitled “METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR REMOTE VIRTUAL VISUALIZATION OF PHYSICALLOCATIONS”, which is a continuation of, and claims priority to U.S.patent application Ser. No. 15/966,902, filed on Apr. 30, 2018, now U.S.Pat. No. 10,832,476, issued Nov. 10, 2020, and entitled, “METHOD ANDSYSTEM FOR REMOTE VIRTUAL VISUALIZATION OF PHYSICAL LOCATIONS,” theentire contents of which is incorporated herein by reference.

FIELD OF THE DISCLOSURE

The present disclosure relates to remote virtual visualization ofstructures and/or locations wherein imaging techniques are used togenerate virtual three-dimensional (3D) digital models of the remotestructures and/or locations. Representations of the virtual 3D digitalmodels may then be presented to a remote user for the purpose of makingdamage assessment.

BACKGROUND

After an accident or loss, property owners typically file claims withtheir insurers. In response to these claims, the insurer assigns anagent to investigate the claims to determine the extent of damage and/orloss and to provide their clients with appropriate compensation. Often,the claim investigations can be time-consuming, difficult and evendangerous for the insurance agents. For example, in order to investigatea claim for damage to a home owner's roof, an agent may have to climbonto the roof, and perform inspections while on the owner's roof. Byclimbing on the roof and attempting to maneuver around the roof toperform his inspection, the insurance agent risks serious injury,especially in difficult weather conditions where the roof may beslippery because of rain, snow, and/or ice and winds may be severe.

Even if the insurance agent performs the inspection without injury,performing the full investigation may still be time-consuming. Inaddition to the time required to drive to and from the incident site andto perform the inspection itself, significant paperwork and calculationsmay be involved in calculating compensation owed to the clients. All ofthese steps are time consuming and both delay payment to the client andalso prevent the agent from assessing other client claims.

In situations where the insurer has received a large number of claims ina short time period, for example when an area is affected by ahurricane, tornado, or other natural disaster, an insurance agent maynot have time to perform timely claim investigations of all the receivedclaims. If claim investigations are not performed quickly, propertyowners may not receive recovery for their losses for long periods oftime. Additionally, long time delays when performing claiminvestigations can lead to inaccurate investigations results. Moreover,the physical access to damaged sites may be constrained followingcatastrophic damage to an area.

Insurers have attempted to use remote controlled devices to assist ininvestigating claims. Current methods involve the insurance agentvisiting the site of the damage and using a remote controlled device toinvestigate a roof of a client. The remote controlled device may employa camera, video camcorder, etc. to gather data about subject matterrelated to the claim (e.g., the roof of the client) and may transmitthis data to the user, who remains firmly on the ground. However, theinsurance agent is still required to visit the site because the remotecontrolled device, generally, is controlled by a short distance radiocontrolled handheld console. Furthermore, the operator must haveextensive flight training and practice time to successfully and safelyoperate the remote controlled device.

SUMMARY

The present application discloses methods, systems, andcomputer-implemented virtualization software applications, andcomputer-implemented graphical user interface (GUI) tools, for remotevirtual visualization of locations and structures. What is disclosedherein relates to remote virtual visualization of structures and/orlocations wherein imaging techniques are used to generate virtual 3Ddigital models of the remote structures and/or locations. The virtual 3Ddigital models may then be used to generate representations of thevirtual 3D digital models that can be viewed and manipulated by a remoteuser for the purpose of damage assessment and/or filing insuranceclaims.

In this application an imaging vehicle may be used to capture multipleimages of a structure, a plurality of structures, or a location. Theimaging vehicle may be an aerial imaging drone that may be autonomous,semi-autonomous, or controlled by either a remote or an on-sitecontroller or pilot. This imaging vehicle may travel around and/or abovethe structure of interest to capture a plurality of images at variousheights and at various angles. The motion characteristics and/or theimage capturing characteristics of the imaging vehicle, or the imagingprocess as a whole, may be determined or set by a user or preselectedfrom a menu of previously determined routines and functions. In furtherembodiments, other types of aerial or terrestrial imaging vehicles maybe used to capture data regarding structures or locations.

For example, the resolution of the captured images can be set at adesired setting. The number of the images captured and/or the angle atwhich the images are captured may also be set to a desired setting, asmay the altitude from which the images are captured. The inspectiontravel path of the imaging vehicle may also be predetermined or setaccording to set or predetermined criteria. In one embodiment, an aerialimaging vehicle may hover above a structure at a specific altitude andtraverse over the structure along a predetermined grid pattern tocapture images at specific intervals with the imaging apparatus of theimaging vehicle pointing towards the structure at a specific angle oralternatively at varying angles. The overlap percentage of each imagewith the next image may also be set to a desired value.

In this fashion, as described above, the imaging vehicle may capture aplurality of images of the specific structure or location of interest.These images, along with the pertinent data associated with each image,may then be transmitted through a communication network to a remoteserver and stored at the data storage unit associated with the remoteserver. The server, using virtualization software and virtual 3D digitalmodeling algorithms and software, may use these non-virtual 2D digitalimages that have been received from the imaging vehicle, to construct avirtual 3D digital model of the structure and/or location (and possiblythe surrounding areas as well).

This virtual 3D digital model of the structure and/or location may beused to generate and to display representations of the virtual 3Ddigital models which can be viewed from various angles and fromdifferent perspectives by a user through the use of a display apparatus,which may be a variety of flat panel display modules. Alternatively, avirtual 3D digital imaging device may be used to display and view therepresentations of the virtual 3D digital models of the structure and/orlocation in a virtual 3D digital environment.

Once a virtual 3D digital model of the structure and/or location hasbeen generated, it may be used to generate representations of thevirtual 3D digital models of the structure and/or location. Theserepresentations of the virtual 3D digital models may be accessed byvarious remote users. The viewing and the manipulation of therepresentations of the virtual 3D digital models of the structure by auser may be done using virtualization software applications or relatedGUI tools. The necessary software tools may be packaged into one singlecomprehensive software package, for example a virtualization softwareapplication, and may or may not include GUI tools. With thisvirtualization software application a user is enabled to access thevirtual 3D digital model of the structure remotely from any locationthat has access to a suitable communication network.

The remote user may access the representations of the virtual 3D digitalmodels of the structure and/or location and view the representations ofthe virtual 3D digital models from different angles and perspectives inorder to assess the extent of the damage to property. The remote usermay be an insurance agent, or a third party, and may view the sameimages remotely and communicate remotely with the server and/or theother users. Both a first user and a second user may comparerepresentations of the virtual 3D digital models of the structure and/orlocation that were captured before and after the damage, and they maycompare the before and after images with each other.

In this fashion a user, or multiple users, may remotely inspect andvisualize a remotely located damaged structure or location, assess thenature and the extent of the damages, and prepare insurance claimsrapidly and without the difficult process of physically visiting thedamaged structure.

According to one aspect the server may identify, generate, access,communicate, and/or present data and representations of the virtual 3Ddigital models to a user. The process may include identifying a physicalstructure associated with a virtual 3D digital model to present to auser, in addition to generating or accessing a virtual representation ofthe physical structure. This virtual representation may be communicatedto the user. The user may be presented with a visual representation ofthe physical structure via a GUI. Additionally, the user may bepresented visual representations via the GUI in response to usermanipulation of the virtual representation. Damage to a component of thephysical structure may be identified by comparing the virtual 3D digitalmodel with a previous virtual 3D digital model that was generated beforedamage occurred. The user may receive a user annotation associated withthe virtual representation, and a claim report item may be generatedbased upon the user annotation.

In some embodiments, the server may receive a request from a userindicating the physical structure of interest, which for example may bea structure that includes a building that is associated with the user.Upon receipt of this request by the server from the user, the server maytransmit communication signals to a controller device that is associatedwith the imaging vehicle. The server may instruct the imaging vehicle tocapture a number of new images, which may include new images of thestructure.

The server may determine one or more characteristics of the structurebased upon the virtual 3D model that may include the virtual 3D model ofthe structure. The server may identify the physical structure that isbased upon the determination made by the one or more characteristics,and the server may transmit communication signals to the user indicatingthat the visual representation of the physical structure is availablefor viewing.

The server may generate and/or access a virtual representation of thephysical structure. As part of the process of generating and/oraccessing the virtual representation, using the virtual 3D model, theserver may perform polygon simplification on the virtual 3D model untilthe virtual representation of the physical structure is below a datasize limit for transmission.

The server may communicate the virtual representation to the user. Thevisual representation of the physical structure may be presented to theuser via a GUI, and this GUI may be configured to enable the user tomanipulate the virtual representation by performing such changes to theperspective view as rotating the virtual representation, zooming in,zooming out, or changing the viewing angle.

The server may present additional visual representations to the user viathe GUI in response to user manipulation of the virtual representation.The GUI may be configured to receive an annotation associated with alocation within the virtual representation from the user. The annotationmay indicate a condition of a component of the physical structure. Theserver, may receive an indication of the annotation and/or the locationwithin the virtual representation from the user computing device. Inaddition, the server may store the annotation and an indication of thelocation within the virtual representation associated with theannotation in the memory of the server.

The server may identify damage to a component of the physical structureby comparing the 3D model with a previous 3D model. The server mayaccess a previously generated 3D model of the physical structure thatwas generated prior to any damage, and the server may compare thisprevious 3D model with the 3D model which was generated based on imagesthat were captured after the damage. In doing the comparison, the servermay identify damage to a component of the physical structure based uponthe identified differences between the before-the-damage andafter-the-damage 3D models.

The server may cause the visual representation of at least a portion ofthe physical structure to be displayed to a reviewer and may cause anymanipulation of the virtual representation by either the user or thereviewer to automatically synchronize any additional visualrepresentation between both the user computing device and the reviewercomputing device.

The server may receive a user annotation associated with the virtualrepresentation and generate a claim report item based upon the userannotation. The server may generate a claim report item associated withthe component of the physical structure based upon the stored annotationand indication of the location within the virtual representation, andthe server may cause the claim report to be presented to a reviewer viaa display associated with a reviewer computing device.

The methods and the systems that are described herein in thisapplication can be applied not only to structures but to locations,regions, and various types of geographical locations as well. Additionalor alternative aspects may be included in some embodiments, consistentwith the description herein.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 depicts inspection of an exemplary geographical site thatincludes multiple structures by an imaging vehicle.

FIG. 2 depicts an exemplary virtual 3D digital model of the geographicalsite and a representation of the virtual 3D digital model presented viaa display.

FIG. 3 depicts inspection of an exemplary structure by an imagingvehicle.

FIG. 4 depicts an exemplary virtual 3D digital model of the exemplarystructure.

FIG. 5 depicts an exemplary display apparatus configured to present avirtual 3D digital model of the structure to a user in a virtual 3Dimaging environment.

FIG. 6 depicts a block diagram of an exemplary remote imaging andvisualization system for implementing techniques for remotelycontrolling an imaging vehicle and/or for remote virtual visualizationof structures and/or locations.

FIG. 7 depicts a block diagram of an exemplary computing device for useaccording to the embodiments described herein.

FIG. 8 depicts a block diagram of an exemplary imaging vehicle controlsystem for remotely controlling an imaging vehicle.

FIG. 9 depicts a block diagram of an exemplary remote visualizationsystem for remote virtual visualization of structures and locations.

FIG. 10 depicts a flow chart of an exemplary virtual 3D digital modeland method.

FIG. 11 depicts an exemplary damaged structure during inspection by animaging vehicle.

FIG. 12 depicts presentation of an exemplary virtual 3D digital model ofthe exemplary damaged structure.

FIG. 13 depicts an exemplary display of the virtual 3D digital modelillustrating damage to the structure.

FIG. 14 depicts an exemplary comparison display for comparingrepresentations of the virtual 3D digital models of the inspectedstructure.

FIG. 15 depicts an exemplary virtualization software application tool.

FIG. 16 depicts an exemplary display of the inspected structure via thevirtualization software application tool.

FIG. 17 depicts an exemplary view manipulation display of thevirtualization software application.

FIG. 18 depicts an exemplary communication display of the virtualizationsoftware application.

FIG. 19 depicts a flow chart of an exemplary remote visualization methodfor identifying, generating, accessing, communicating, and/or presentingdata and/or virtual images to a user.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

As technology advances, it is possible to use aerial imaging vehiclesthat do not necessarily require an on-site controller or pilot tocontrol them. Such an aerial imaging vehicle may be an autonomousinspection and imaging vehicle, or it can be a partially autonomousvehicle that can be controlled remotely from a remote location.Regardless of whether the imaging vehicle is fully autonomous or not,the primary mission of the imaging vehicle is to perform the function ofinspecting and capturing images of the property and/or structures beforeany damages have occurred and/or after damages have occurred. Theimaging vehicle may be, by way of example, an aerial drone that isequipped with an imaging apparatus for capturing images and a datatransmission apparatus for transmitting the captured images and/orassociated data of the captured images to a central processing serverthrough a wireless communication network.

Once the remote server receives the images from the imaging vehicle thatis operating in the field to inspect and capture images of a property(e.g., a structure at a location), the server can then generate avirtual 3-dimensional (3D) digital model of all or part of the property.This virtual 3D digital model may be generated by virtual 3D imagingsoftware using the obtained images and data, which were captured by theimaging vehicle operating in the field. The images and data may betransmitted through the communication network to the server. A virtual3D digital model of the inspected property may be generated usingvirtual 3D digital imaging software. This virtual 3D digital model maybe stored for future reference. Multiple virtual 3D digital models ofthe same property, for example models generated from images capturedbefore and after damages, may be compared with each other in order toassess the extent and the nature of the damages to the structure.

It is further beneficial that the virtual 3D digital model may be usedto generate representations of the virtual 3D digital models that can beviewed and manipulated by a remote user. For example, a homeowner maydesire to inspect a property for damage following a catastrophic event(e.g., a hurricane or earthquake), but conditions may prevent or delayon-site inspection. To address this problem, systems and methodsdescribed herein may be used to enable a user to view a virtual 3Ddigital model of the property from a remote location. In someembodiments, the user may further utilize the virtual 3D digital modelfor the purposes of damage assessment and/or filing of insurance claims.

FIG. 1 illustrates inspection and imaging a geographical site 110 usingan imaging vehicle 120. The geographical site 110 includes multiplestructures. The geographical site 110 may can be inspected by capturingimages or other data using one or more imaging vehicles 120. The imagingvehicle 120 may be an aerial drone that is equipped with an imagingapparatus 122 and a communication apparatus 124 for communicating viawireless communication signals 128 the collected images or various otherdata to a remote server. This imaging may be high-altitude imaging, inwhich the images generated are of a high-level panoramic nature. Detailsof individual structures may not be discernible during such imaging.However, images generated in a high-altitude panoramic fashion may helpidentify relative locations and specific coordinates of individualstructures. The imaging vehicle may then be controlled to move closer tothe individual structures to capture higher resolution images of eachindividual structure. The imaging vehicle 110 may be manually piloted ormay be an autonomous vehicle that does not require an on-site controlleror pilot to control it. The imaging vehicle 110 inspects and performsimaging functions over a field of inspection area 144, and each imagethat the imaging vehicle 110 captures covers a specific field of imagingarea 142. In some application there may be an overlap between field ofimaging areas 142 or corresponding images that are captured as theimaging vehicle 110 transverses the field of inspection 144. Althoughone imaging vehicle 120 is illustrated, any number of imaging vehicles120 may be used in various embodiments.

FIG. 2 depicts an exemplary virtual 3D digital model 220 of thegeographical site 110. The virtual 3D digital model 220 may be generatedby a virtual 3D digital imaging software 260 using the images and dataacquired by the imaging vehicle 120. The images and the data aretransmitted through a communication network to the remote server 210 andthe data storage unit. The server 210 may be equipped with a remote datalink and communication unit 212, through which the sever 210 receivesthe data transmissions signals 214 which are related to the data that isobtained from the imaging vehicle 120. The server 210 may generate oneor more virtual 3D digital models 220 of the inspected geographical site110. Each virtual 3D digital model 220 may be based on the capturedimages and may be generated using a virtual 3D imaging software 260executing on the server 210. From this virtual 3D digital model 220 theserver 210 may generate multiple representations of the virtual 3Ddigital models 224 using the virtual 3D digital imaging software 260.These images may be displayed within a virtual 3D digital imagingenvironment 228 on a user interface unit 218, such as a flat paneldisplay screen. The representations of the virtual 3D digital models 224may include 2D digital images to be presented to a user within thevirtual 3D digital imaging environment 228 as the user manipulates theviews or perspectives displayed.

FIG. 3 depicts inspection of a property 310 using one or more imagingvehicles 320, which may be the same or different from the imagingvehicle 120. An on-site inspector agent 314, may use an imaging vehicle320 to perform the function of inspecting and imaging of the property310, which may be done before any damage has occurred. The inspectoragent 314, may use a control unit 316 to control the imaging vehicle 320at the physical location of the property 310 or remotely through acommunication network. The imaging vehicle 320 may be, by way ofexample, an aerial drone that is equipped with an imaging apparatus 322for capturing images and a data transmission apparatus 324 fortransmitting signals 328 including the recorded images and associateddata to a central processing server through a wireless network. Theimaging vehicle 320 may be an autonomous vehicle that does not requirean on-site controller or a pilot to control it. The field of inspection344 may be identified as an area within the boundaries of the property310 which is to be inspected. The field of imaging area 342 is aspecific area that is imaged during one image cycle (for example onedigital photo image). Each field of imaging area 342 may include data(e.g. an image) regarding a portion of the property 310. In someembodiments, the property 310 may include one or more structures (e.g. ahouse, a warehouse, an office building, a bridge, a factory, or otherstructures), in which case each portion of the property 310 may be partor all of one of the one or more structures (e.g. a roof, a garage, or abarn).

Under a first exemplary scenario A, the imaging vehicle 320 isillustrated hovering above a structure above the property 310, whilecapturing images with the imaging apparatus 322 pointing straight downat a vertical angle with respect to the plane of the field of inspection344. The imaging vehicle 320 traverses the field of inspection 344 andcaptures a plurality of images of the property 310, with each imagehaving a field of imaging area 342 associated with that particularimage. The field of imaging areas 342 of the various images that arecaptured may overlap with each other, and the percent of overlap may beset and/or adjusted according to various imaging algorithms and/orsettings of the image capturing software routines or image capturinghardware components. Under exemplary scenario A, the imaging vehicle 320traverses the field of inspection 344 at a particular height and along apath of a predetermined travel grid pattern while capturing images ofthe property 310 at predetermined intervals with the imaging apparatus322 pointing straight down.

Alternatively in exemplary scenario B, the imaging vehicle 320 may pointits imaging apparatus 322 at a predetermined angle towards a structureof the property 310 and capture images at an angle, such as a 60 degreesangle, with respect to the plane of the field of inspection 344. In thisfashion, the imaging apparatus 322 of the imaging vehicle 320 cancapture multiple images of the side of the structure as it traverses thefield of inspection 344 in a circular or semi-circular path around thestructure. In doing so the imaging apparatus 322 captures multipleimages of the sides of the structure. In some embodiments, the imagingvehicle 320 may move to an even lower altitude, as in scenario C, suchas an altitude that is approximately the same as the height of thestructure and adjust the angle of its imaging apparatus 322 so that theimaging apparatus 322 is pointing at the structure at an acute angle(e.g. 30 degrees) with respect to the plane of the field of inspection344. The imaging vehicle 322 may then traverse around the structurefollowing a circular, or semi-circular path and in doing so capture aplurality of images of the structure at the exemplary predeterminedangle of 30 degrees, or other angles that are indicated by the userand/or controller.

In performing the above described maneuvers above and around thestructure on the property 310 the imaging vehicle 320 captures multipleimages, possibly hundreds or even thousands of images. From thesecaptured images, a virtual 3D digital imaging software 260 of the remoteserver 210 may construct or generate a virtual 3D digital model 220 ofthe structure or a part thereof. Using this virtual 3D digital model220, the virtual 3D digital imaging software 260, may further generatemultiple representations of the virtual 3D digital models 224 that showthe structure 310 from various perspectives, various heights, variousangles, and various distances as a user interacts with a representationof the virtual 3D digital model 220.

FIG. 4 illustrates a user interface 418 displaying an exemplaryrepresentation of the virtual 3D digital model 424 of the property 310within a virtual 3D digital environment 428. The representation of thevirtual 3D digital model 424 may be generated by a virtual 3D digitalimaging software 460 from a virtual 3D digital model 420 of thestructure on the property 310. This virtual 3D digital model 420 may begenerated by a 3D virtual imaging software 460 using the field-obtainedimages acquired by the imaging vehicle 320. The images and the data thatwere captured by the imaging vehicle 320 may be transmitted via signals414 through a communication network to the server 410, and received by acommunication unit 412 that is associated with the server 410. A virtual3D digital model 420 of the inspected property generated by the sever410 using the virtual 3D digital imaging software 460 may be stored forfuture reference in data storage units that are associated with theserver 410. Other virtual 3D digital models of the same property 310,for example after damage, can be compared to this virtual 3D digitalmodel 420 to assess damage and/or changes to the property 310, asdiscussed further herein.

FIG. 5 depicts an exemplary display apparatus system 500 configured topresent a representation of the virtual 3D digital model 420 to a user510 using a virtual 3D digital imaging device 518 that presentsrepresentations of the virtual 3D digital models 524 of a virtual 3Ddigital model 420 of the property 310 within a virtual 3D digitalenvironment 528. The virtual 3D digital imaging device 518 may beconfigured to be placed in front of the user's eyes, like a pair ofgoggles or spectacles are worn, and held in place by a mechanism such asa head gear mechanism 516. As the user 510 views the representations ofthe virtual 3D digital models 524 of the property 310 the virtual 3Ddigital environment 528, the user 510 may use hand gestures, such asusing left hand 512 or right hand 514 in order to manipulate therepresentation of the virtual 3D digital model 524 displayed. The user510 may thus manipulated a representation of the virtual 3D digitalmodel 420 of the property 310 (or a structure with the property 310) inorder to change the perspective, angle, size, zoom factor, resolution,or other image characteristics of the representation of the virtual 3Ddigital model 524 displayed via the virtual 3D digital imaging device518. For example, the user 510 can use hand gestures in order to rotatethe virtual representation of the structure in order to view thestructure from another perspective. Alternatively, in some embodiments,the user may use a control device in addition to, or in place of, handgestures.

FIG. 6 depicts a block diagram of an exemplary remote imaging andvirtualization system 600 for implementing techniques for remotelycontrolling a remote imaging vehicle 640 and/or for remote virtualvisualization of structures and/or areas. This remote imaging andvirtualization system 600 may include the server 620, a remote imagingvehicle 640, a remote remote control client 660, a user electronicdevice 680, and a communication network 616.

The server 620 includes a processor 621 and a memory 622, which mayinclude a request handler 624 and a virtual image processor 626. Datastorage units which can be considered to be part of the server 620. Onedata storage units may include a customer data storage unit 632, alocation data storage unit 634, or a virtual images data storage unit636. The server 620 is connected to the network 616 via communicationlink 612, which can be either a wireless type or a wired type ofcommunication link.

The remote control client 660 includes a user interface 666 and a memory670, and the memory 670 may include a remote control module 672. Theremote control client 660 communicates with the network 616 via acommunication link 614. In some embodiments the remote control client660 may communicate directly with the remote imaging vehicle 640 via adirect communication link 615.

The remote imaging vehicle 640 includes a controller 642 which mayinclude a processor 650 and a memory 652. The remote imaging vehicle 640further includes an imaging apparatus 644, such as a camera forcapturing images of areas or structures. The remote imaging vehicle 640communicates with the network 616 via a communication link 613 and/orwith the remote control client 660 via the direct communication link615.

The user electronic device 680 includes a visual display module 682 anda memory 684. The memory 684 may include the virtualization application690. The user electronic device 680 may also include one or moreprocessors, communication components, and user interface components (notshown). The user electronic device 680 is connected to the network 616via communication link 611. Some or all of these components of theremote imaging and virtualization system 600 may be utilized to performthe techniques for remotely controlling a remote imaging vehicle and/orfor remote virtual visualization of structures and locations describedherein.

FIG. 7 depicts a block diagram of system 700 comprising of an examplecomputing device physical hardware 740 interacting with the remoteserver 720. The system 700 described here may be used to generate avirtual model based upon sensor data regarding a physical environment,such as a field of inspection area 144 or 344. The virtual model mayfurther be used to determine damage to objects or components of objectswithin the physical environment, such as structures or other property310.

FIG. 7 illustrates a block diagram of an exemplary computing device 740,which may be used to implement one or more of the units 620, 640, 660,and 680, in accordance with the remote imaging and virtualization system600 of this disclosure. Such computing device 740, may be a smartphone,a tablet computer, or similar mobile device capable of receiving andprocessing electronic information. The computing device 740 may includeone or more sensors 770 which may provide sensor data (e.g. images)regarding a local physical environment in which the computing device 740is operating. Such sensor data may include 2-D or 3-D images of thelocal physical environment, which may be captured by a camera 774 of thecomputing device 740. Additionally, in some embodiments, the computingdevice 740 may receive sensor data from one or more external sensors(not shown). The sensor data may be processed by the controller 750 togenerate a virtual model (e.g. virtual 3D digital model) for userinteraction, as discussed elsewhere herein. Additionally, oralternatively, the sensor data may be sent to one or more processors 721of the server 720 through the network 716, and through communicationlinks 712 and 719, for processing.

When the controller 750 (or other processor) generates the virtualmodel, a representation of the virtual model may be presented to theuser of the computing device 740 using a display 762 or other outputcomponent of the computing device 740. User input may likewise bereceived via an input 768 of the computing device 740. Thus, thecomputing device 740 may include various input and output components,units, or devices. The display 762 and speaker 764, along with otherintegrated or communicatively connected output devices (not shown), maybe used to present information to the user of the computing device 740or others. The display 762 may include any known or hereafter developedvisual or tactile display technology, including LCD, OLED, AMOLED,projection displays, head-mounted displays, refreshable brailledisplays, haptic displays, or other types of displays. The one or morespeakers 764 may similarly include any controllable audible outputdevice or component, which may include a haptic component or device. Insome embodiments, communicatively connected speakers 764 may be used(e.g., headphones, Bluetooth headsets, docking stations with additionalspeakers, etc.). The input 768 may further receive information from theuser. Such input 768 may include a physical or virtual keyboard, amicrophone, virtual or physical buttons or dials, or other means ofreceiving information. In some embodiments, the display 762 may includea touch screen or may otherwise be configured to receive input from auser, in which case the display 762 and the input 768 may be combined.

The computing device 740 may further include sensors 770. In someembodiments, additional external sensors (not shown) may becommunicatively connected to the computing device, either directly orthrough the network 716. The sensors 770 may include any devices orcomponents mentioned herein, other extant devices suitable for capturingdata regarding a physical environment, or later-developed devices thatmay be configured to provide data regarding a physical environment(including components of structures or objects within the physicalenvironment). For example, an imaging apparatus of a remote imagingvehicle 640 may provide external sensor data to a remote client 660 or auser electronic device 680. The sensors 770 of the computing device 740may further include additional sensors configured or intended for otheruses, such as geolocation, movement tracking, photography, or spatialorientation of the device. Such additional sensors may, nonetheless, beused to provide sensor data for capturing data regarding the localphysical environment to generate a corresponding virtual model.

Although discussion of all possible sensors of the computing device 740would be impractical, if not impossible, several sensors warrantparticular discussion. Disposed within the mobile computing device 740,the sensors 770 may include a GPS unit 772, an accelerometer 776, acamera 774, and a microphone 778. Any or all of these may be used togenerate sensor data used in generating a virtual model of an area orstructure. Additionally, other types of currently available orlater-developed sensors may be included in some embodiments.

The GPS unit 772 and the accelerometer 776 may provide informationregarding the location or movement of the computing device 740. The GPSunit 772 may use “Assisted GPS” (A-GPS), satellite GPS, or any othersuitable global positioning protocol (e.g., the GLONASS system operatedby the Russian government) or system that locates the position of thecomputing device 740. For example, A-GPS utilizes terrestrial cell phonetowers or Wi-Fi hotspots (e.g., wireless router points) to moreaccurately and more quickly determine location of the computing device740, while satellite GPS generally is more useful in more remote regionsthat lack cell towers or Wi-Fi hotspots. The accelerometer 776 mayinclude one or more accelerometers positioned to determine the force anddirection of movements of the mobile computing device 740. In someembodiments, the accelerometer 776 may include a separate X-axisaccelerometer, Y-axis accelerometer, and Z-axis accelerometer to measurethe force and direction of movement in each dimension respectively. Itwill be appreciated by those of ordinary skill in the art that a threedimensional vector describing a movement of the mobile computing device740 through three dimensional space can be established by combining theoutputs of the X-axis, Y-axis, and Z-axis accelerometers using knownmethods.

Similarly, other components may provide additional positioning ormovement sensor data. In some embodiments, a gyroscope may be used inaddition to, or instead of, the accelerometer 776 to determine movementof the computing device 740. For example, a MEMS gyroscope may beincluded within the computing device 740 to detect movement of thecomputing device 740 in three dimensional space. Of course, it should beunderstood that other types of gyroscopes or other types ofmovement-detecting sensors may be used in various embodiments. Suchsensor data may be used to determine a relative position of thecomputing device 740 within the physical environment. Such relativeposition information may be combined with other sensor data (such asvisual image data from a camera 774) to provide data from which thecomputing device 740 can generate a virtual model. For example, multiple2-D images of the same object within the physical environment may becompared based upon relative position information to determine the size,distance, and 3-D shape of the object based upon differences between theimages.

The camera 774 may be used to capture still or video images of the localphysical environment of the computing device 740 in the visual spectrumor other wavelengths, as well as objects or structures within the localphysical environment. Such images may be used to generate and utilizevirtual models in virtual spaces corresponding to physical environmentsin order to facilitate automated damage or loss assessment. The one ormore cameras 774 may include digital cameras or other similar devices,such as charge-coupled devices, to detect electromagnetic radiation inthe visual range or other wavelengths. It will be readily understoodthat one or more cameras 774 may be disposed within the computing device740 and configured to generate either still images or video recordings.For example, multiple cameras 774 may be disposed to obtain stereoscopicimages of the physical environment of a remote imaging vehicle 640,thereby better enabling the computing device 740 or server 720 togenerate virtual models. Additional cameras 774 may also becommunicatively connected to the computing device 740. In someembodiments, the camera 774 may include an infrared illuminator or otherdevice to stimulate emission within a targeted range. Such infraredilluminators may be automatically activated when light is insufficientfor image capturing. In further embodiments, the camera 774 may includea motorized swivel mounting and/or an adjustable lens to enableautomated or remote adjustments to the direction or focus of the camera774, including rotating or zooming in or out. Additional or alternativesensors 770 may be included in some embodiments to capture dataregarding locations and shapes of objects within the physicalenvironment.

The microphone 778 may be used to detect sounds within the localphysical environment, such as spoken notes or comments by the user ofthe computing device 740. One or more microphones 778 may be disposedwithin the computing device 740 or may be communicatively connectedthereto. For example, wired or wireless microphones 778 may becommunicatively connected to the computing device 740, such as wirelessspeaker/microphone combination devices communicatively paired with thecomputing device 740.

The computing device 740 may also communicate with the server 720, thedata sources 732, 734, and 736 or other components via the network 716.Such communication may involve the communication unit 766, which maymanage communication between the controller 750 and external devices(e.g., network components of the network 716, etc.). The communicationunit 766 may further transmit and receive wired or wirelesscommunications with external devices, using any suitable wirelesscommunication protocol network, such as a wireless telephony network(e.g., GSM, CDMA, LTE, etc.), a Wi-Fi network (802.11 standards), aWiMAX network, a Bluetooth network, etc. Additionally, or alternatively,the communication unit 766 may also be capable of communicating using anear field communication standard (e.g., ISO/IEC 18092, standardsprovided by the NFC Forum, etc.). Furthermore, the communication unit766 may provide input signals to the controller 750 via the I/O circuit758. The communication unit 766 may also transmit sensor data, devicestatus information, control signals, or other output from the controller750 to the server 720 or other devices via the network 716 and throughcommunication links 712 and 719. The server 720 includes a virtualimages data storage unit 736 to store the virtual images, in addition toa customer data storage unit 732 and a location data storage unit 734.The server 720 includes a processor 721 and a memory 722. The memory 722includes a request handler 724 and a virtual image processor 726.

The computing device 740 may further include a controller 750. Thecontroller 750 may receive, process, produce, transmit, and store data.The controller 750 may include a program memory 752, one or moremicrocontrollers or microprocessors (MP) 754, a random access memory(RAM) 756, and an I/O circuit 758. The components of the controller 750may be interconnected via an address/data bus or other means. It shouldbe appreciated that although FIG. 7 depicts only one microprocessor 754,the controller 750 may include multiple microprocessors 754 in someembodiments. Similarly, the memory of the controller 750 may includemultiple RAM 756 or multiple program memories 752. Although the FIG. 7depicts the I/O circuit 758 as a single block, the I/O circuit 758 mayinclude a number of different I/O circuits, which may be configured forspecific I/O operations. The microprocessor 754 may include one or moreprocessors of any known or hereafter developed type, includinggeneral-purpose processors or special-purpose processors. Similarly, thecontroller 750 may implement the RAM 756 and program memories 752 assemiconductor memories, magnetically readable memories, opticallyreadable memories, or any other type of memory.

The program memory 752 may include an operating system 787, a datastorage 789, a plurality of software applications 780, and a pluralityof software routines 790. The operating system 787, for example, mayinclude one of a plurality of mobile platforms such as the iOS®,Android™, Palm® webOS, Windows® Mobile/Phone, BlackBerry® OS, orSymbian® OS mobile technology platforms, developed by Apple Inc., GoogleInc., Palm Inc. (now Hewlett-Packard Company), Microsoft Corporation,Research in Motion (RIM), and Nokia, respectively. The data storage 789may include data such as user profiles and preferences, application datafor the plurality of applications 780, routine data for the plurality ofroutines 790, and other data necessary to interact with the server 740through the digital network 716. In some embodiments, the controller 750may also include, or otherwise be communicatively connected to, otherdata storage mechanisms (e.g., one or more hard disk drives, opticalstorage drives, solid state storage devices, etc.) that reside withinthe computing device 740. Moreover, in thin-client implementations,additional processing and data storage may be provided by the server 720via the network 716.

The software applications 780 and routines 790 may includecomputer-readable instructions that cause the processor 754 to implementthe remote imaging and visualization functions described herein. Thus,the software applications 780 may include a remote image captureapplication 782 to control site imaging, a damage assessment application784 to determine damage to objects, and a network communicationapplication 786 to receive and transmit data via the network 716. Thesoftware routines 790 may support the software applications 780 and mayinclude routines such as an image capture routine 792 to process imagedata from the camera 774, a model generation routine 794 for generatingvirtual 3D digital models, a virtual image generation routine 796 togenerate images based upon virtual models 798 to determine an extent ofdamage based upon a virtual model. It should be understood thatadditional or alternative applications 780 or routines 790 may beincluded in the program memory 752, including web browsers or otherapplications of the sort ordinarily stored on computers or mobiledevices.

In some embodiments, the computing device 740 may include a wearablecomputing device or may be communicatively connected to a wearablecomputing device. In such embodiments, part or all of the functions andcapabilities of the computing device 740 may be performed by or disposedwithin the wearable computing device. Additionally, or alternatively,the wearable computing device may supplement or complement the mobilecomputing device 740. For example, the wearable computing device 740 maybe a smart watch or head-mounted display, either of which may presentrepresentations of the virtual model.

FIG. 8 illustrates a block diagram of an exemplary imaging vehiclecontrol system 800 for remotely controlling an imaging vehicle. Thesystem 800 clarifies certain aspects of the remote imaging vehicle 640and the remote control client 660. Additional details and components aredepicted for the corresponding remote imaging vehicle 840 and remotecontrol client 860.

The imaging vehicle control system 800 includes a remote control client860 coupled to both a remote imaging vehicle 840 and a server 820 via acommunication network 816 and communication links 812, 813, and 814. Acommunication link 815 communicatively connects the remote imagingvehicle 840 and the remote client 860. The remote control client 860 maybe, for example, a laptop computer, a tablet computer, a smartphone,etc. The remote control client 860 includes a central processing unit(CPU) 862, a graphics processing unit (GPU) 864, a computer-readablememory 870, and a user interface 866. The user interface 866 may includea touch interface 869, voice interface 868, or similar interfaces. Invarious implementations, the touch interface 869 can include a touchpada touchscreen, etc. In other implementations, the voice interface 868may include any device that includes a microphone, such as a Bluetoothear piece, a smartphone, etc. The memory 870 is a computer-readablenon-transitory storage device that may include both persistent (e.g., ahard disk) and non-persistent (e.g., RAM) memory components, storesinstructions (executable on the CPU 862 and/or the GPU 864) that mayinclude a remote control module 872, location data 876, and sensor data878 (on which the remote control module 872 operates). The remotecontrol module 872 may include an incremental movement module 874 thatallows a user to easily control the remote imaging vehicle 840 viastep-like, incremental movements in which one incremental movement is inresponse to one user command.

According to various implementations the remote control module 872operates as a separately executable software application, a plugin thatextends the functionality of another software application such as a webbrowser, an application programming interface (API) invokable by asoftware application, etc. The instructions of the remote control module872 may be executable on the CPU 862 and/or the GPU 864 directly, or maybe interpreted by the CPU 862 at runtime. Further, the incrementalmovement module 874 may be provided as an integral part of the remotecontrol module 872 or as a separately installable and downloadablecomponent.

The remote imaging vehicle 840 includes an imaging apparatus 844. Theremote imaging vehicle 840 includes a controller 842 that maycommunicate with one or more proximity sensors 845, one or morestabilization sensors 846, a Global Positioning System (GPS) unit 849,an image sensor 847, and a communications unit 848. The controller 842includes a processor 850 that executes instructions from acomputer-readable memory 852, such as a control module 854 and astabilization module 856. The control module 854 may invoke thestabilization module 856 to retrieve data from the stabilization sensors846 (i.e., sensors relating to avionics) to implement a controlfunction, such as that associated with a control routine that performsPID (proportional-integral-derivative), fuzzy logic, nonlinear, etc.control to maintain the stability of the remote imaging vehicle 840. Forinstance, the stabilization sensors 846 may include one or more of adirectional speed sensor, a rotational speed sensor, a tilt anglesensor, an inertial sensor, an accelerometer sensor, or any othersuitable sensor for assisting in stabilization of an aerial craft. Thestabilization module 856 may utilize the data retrieved from thesestabilization sensors 846 to control the stability of the remote imagingvehicle 840 in a maintained, consistent hover that is substantiallystationary in three dimensional space while maintaining close distance(e.g., 12-18 inches) to an object. Of course, the stabilization module856 may implement any suitable technique of stabilizing the remoteimaging vehicle 840 in a hover or stationary 3D position. Thestabilization module 856 may additionally, or alternatively, beconfigured to stabilize the remote imaging vehicle 840 duringnon-stationary flight (i.e. when moving along a flight path).

The control module 854 may retrieve data from the proximity sensors 845to determine nearby objects, obstructions, etc. that hinder movement ofthe remote imaging vehicle 840. These proximity sensors 845 may includeany sensors that assists the control module 854 in determining adistance and a direction to any nearby object. The one or more proximitysensors 845 may include ultrasonic sensors, infrared sensors, LI DAR(Light Detection and Ranging), a stereo vision system (SVS) that mayutilize the image sensors 847 (e.g., one or more cameras) to implementstereoscopic imaging techniques to determine a distance, and/or anyother suitable method in determining the distance from the remoteimaging vehicle 840 to a nearby object.

The GPS unit 849 may use “Assisted GPS” (A-GPS), satellite GPS, or anyother suitable global positioning protocol or system that locates theposition the device. For example, A-GPS utilizes terrestrial cell phonetowers or wi-fi hotspots (e.g., wireless router points) to moreaccurately and more quickly determine location of the device whilesatellite GPS generally are more useful in more remote regions that lackcell towers or wi-fi hotspots. The communication unit 848 maycommunicate with the server 820 via any suitable wireless communicationprotocol network, such as a wireless telephony network (e.g., GSM, CDMA,LTE, etc.), a wi-fi network (802.11 standards), a WiMAX network, aBluetooth network, etc.

In an example scenario, the server 820 receives a request that specifiesa customer, a structure, a pre-stored route, etc. The server 820 inresponse retrieves insurance data (e.g., customer biographicalinformation, type of property, etc.), and location data (e.g., aproperty location of a customer, etc.) from a customer database 832 anda location database 834, respectively. The server 820 then provides thecustomer data, the location data, and appropriate indications of howcertain portions of the customer data and the location data are linked,to the remote control client 860 as part of the location data 834. Theremote control client 860 may use this location data to determine ageographic location that the remote imaging vehicle 840 is initiallysent. Of course, the customer database 832 and the location database 834may be disposed within the remote control client 860 depending onimplementations. The server 820 includes a virtual images data to storethe virtual images. The server 820 includes a processor 821 and a memory822. The memory 822 includes a request handler 824 and a virtual imageprocessor 826.

FIG. 9 illustrates a block diagram of an exemplary remote virtualizationsystem 900 in for remotely controlling an imaging vehicle. The system900 clarifies certain aspects of the user electronic device 680.Additional details and components are depicted for a corresponding userelectronic device 980. The server 920 may be the same as the server 620.The server 920 may include a processor 921 and a memory 922, whichincludes a request handler 924 and a virtual image processor 926. Theserver 920 may include or be connected to data storage units including acustomer data storage unit 932, a location data storage unit 934, and avirtual images data storage unit 936. The server 920 may be connected tothe network 916 via communication link 912, which according to examplecan be a wireless or wired.

The user electronic device 980 may include a visual display module 981,a graphical user interface (GUI) application 982, and a memory 984. Theuser electronic device may also include a CPU 988 and a GPU 989. The GUIapplication 982 may include a viewing application 985, a touch interface987, and/or a voice interface 986. The memory 984 may likewise include avirtualization application 990. The virtualization application 990 mayinclude a remote image downloading sub-routine 993, a virtual 3D viewingsoftware 992, and a user to server communication application sub-routine994. The user electronic device 980 may be connected to the network 916via the communication link 911.

FIG. 10 depicts a flow chart of an exemplary virtual 3D model and method1000. The process 1000 may begin with controlling one or more remoteimaging vehicles 640 to capture a plurality of images, including one ormore images of structures and/or locations (block 1002). The remoteimaging vehicles 640 may be controlled by or in response to instructionsfrom the server 620 to capture images of an area or a structure withinan area. In some embodiments, the remote control client 660 may receiveinstructions from the server 620 and control the remote imaging vehicle640 according to such instructions. The process 1000 may next includecommunicating the plurality of captured images to the server 620 througha communication network 616 (block 1004). In some embodiments, a remotecontrol client 660 located in proximity to the remote imaging vehicles640 may receive and preprocess the captured images or other data, whichpreprocessed data may be sent to the server 620. Such embodiments may beof particular advantage when there is limited data communication withthe geographic area to be imaged. One or more virtual 3D digital modelsincluding virtual representation of one or more structures and/orlocations may then be generated (block 1006) and stored (block 1008).Generating the virtual 3D digital models may include processing theimages or other data via photogrammetric or similar processes toidentify coordinates of points within the data associated with edges,vertices, or surfaces of areas or structures of interest, which may thenbe recorded for later user in generating virtual representations of theareas or structures. The virtual 3D digital model and/or therepresentations of the virtual 3D digital models, or the data derivedtherefore, may be made available to one or more remote users (block1010), as discussed elsewhere herein.

FIG. 11 depicts an exemplary damaged structure during inspection by animaging vehicle. An on-site inspector agent 1114, may use an imagingvehicle 1120 to perform the function of inspecting and imaging of thestructure 1110 after damage has occurred. As depicted in FIG. 11 , theremay be damaged portions 1112 of the structure 1110 that are damaged, andthe imaging vehicle 1120 may capture images of these damaged portions1112 of the structure 1110. The inspector agent 1114, may use a controlunit 1116 to control the imaging vehicle 1120. The imaging vehicle 1120may be a remote imaging vehicle 640 or any other imaging vehicledescribed herein. The imaging vehicle 1120 may be an aerial drone thatis equipped with an imaging apparatus 1122 (e.g. an image sensor 847)for capturing images and a data transmission apparatus 1124 (e.g. acommunication unit 848) for transmitting communication signal 1128 forthe transmission of images and associated data to a central processingserver (e.g. server 620) through a wireless network (e.g. network 616).The imaging vehicle 1120 could be an autonomous vehicle that does notrequire an on-site controller or pilot to control it. The field ofinspection 1144 is the area within the boundaries of the property whichis to be inspected. The field of imaging 1142 is the specific area thatis imaged during one image cycle (e.g. one digital photo image).

Under scenario A the imaging vehicle 1120 is hovering above thestructure 1110, and the imaging vehicle 1120 is capturing images withthe imaging apparatus 1122 pointing straight down at a vertical anglewith respect to the plane of the field of inspection 1144. Thisarrangement is depicted only as one example among multiple possibleexamples. The imaging vehicle 1120 may traverse the field of inspection1144 and capture a plurality of images of the structure 1110 with eachimage having a field of imaging 1142 associated with that particularimage. The field of imaging 1142 of the various images that are capturedmay have an overlap with other images which may be set and/or adjustedaccording to various imaging algorithms and/or adjustment of varioussettings of the image capturing software routines or image capturinghardware components.

Under scenario A, the imaging vehicle 1120 traverses the field ofinspection 1144 at a particular height, and along the path of apredetermined travel grid pattern, and captures images of the structure1110 (e.g. at predetermined intervals) with the imaging apparatus 1122pointing straight down. The imaging vehicle 1120 can stay at the samealtitude (scenario B) as before or alternatively it can move to adifferent altitude (scenario C), for example to a lower altitude, forfurther imaging. If further imaging is desired, the imaging vehicle maypoint its imaging apparatus 1122 at a predetermined angle towards thestructure 1110 and capture images at that angle, such as a 60 degreesangle (as shown in scenario B) with respect to the plane of the field ofinspection 1144. In this fashion the imaging apparatus 1122 of theimaging vehicle 1120 can capture multiple images of the side of thestructure 1110 as it traverses a path around the structure 1110. Indoing so the imaging apparatus 1122 captures multiple images of thesides of the structure 1110. Once this process of capturing images fromthe side of the structure 1110 is concluded, the imaging vehicle 1120can move to an even lower altitude (scenario C) if desired. For example,the imaging vehicle 1120 may move to an altitude that is approximatelythe same as the height of a portion of the structure 1110 and adjust theangle of its imaging apparatus 1122 so that the imaging apparatus 1122is pointing at the structure 1110 at an acute angle of with respect tothe plane of the field of inspection 1144. The imaging vehicle 1122 maythen traverse around the structure 1110 and in doing so capture aplurality of images of the structure 1110 at a predetermined angle.

In performing the above described maneuvers above and around thestructure 1110 the imaging vehicle 1120 captures multiple images (orother set of data), possibly hundreds or even thousands of images, fromwhich a virtual 3D digital imaging software 1260 (depicted in FIG. 12 ),or similar software, can construct or generate a virtual 3D digitalmodel (e.g. the virtual 3D digital model 1220 depicted in FIG. 12 ) ofthe structure 1110. Using this virtual 3D digital model the virtual 3Ddigital imaging software can generate multiple representations of thevirtual 3D digital models that depict the structure 1110 from variousperspectives, various heights, various angles, and various distances.

FIG. 12 illustrates presentation of an exemplary virtual 3D digitalmodel of the structure 1110, by displaying a representation of thevirtual 3D digital model 1224 of the structure 1110 within a virtual 3Ddigital environment 1228 on a user interface unit 1218. Therepresentation of the virtual 3D digital model 1224 may be generated bya virtual 3D digital imaging software 1260 from a virtual 3D digitalmodel 1220 of the structure 1110. This virtual 3D digital model 1220 maybe generated by a 3D virtual imaging software 1260 using the imagesand/or data acquired by the imaging vehicle 1120 operating in the field.The images and the data that were captured by the imaging vehicle 1120may be transmitted in signals 1214 through the communication network tothe server 1210 and received by communication link 1212 associated withthe server 1210. A virtual 3D digital model 1220 of the inspectedproperty may be generated by the sever 1210 using the virtual 3D digitalimaging software 1260. This virtual 3D digital model 1220 may then bestored for future reference in data storage units that are associatedwith the server 1210. In some embodiments virtual 3D digital models ofthe same property generated based on images that are captured before andafter the damages can be compared with each other in order to assessdamage and/or changes to the property.

FIG. 13 depicts an exemplary display of a portion of the virtual 3Ddigital model 1220 of the damaged structure 1110 that was inspected andimaged. From this virtual 3D digital model 1220 the server 1210, usingthe virtual 3D digital imaging software 1260, may generate multiplerepresentations of the virtual 3D digital models 1324 that are displayedwithin a virtual 3D digital imaging environment 1328 on the userinterface unit 1218. The representation of the virtual 3D digital model1324 of the damage structure 1110 that is presented within a virtual 3Ddigital environment 1328, after the property was damaged, may representan area or areas of interest, such as the damaged portion of thestructure 1110 for detailed analysis by machine vision algorithms and/orhuman experts. Various data and/or analysis of information 1330 may bedisplayed on the screen in graphical, numerical, and/or text formats.

FIG. 14 depicts an exemplary comparison display, displayingsimultaneously in a side-by-side fashion on the same user interfacedisplay 1218, a representation of the virtual 3D digital model 1424depicting a damaged portion 1428 of the structure 1110 next to arepresentation of the virtual 3D digital model 1444 depicting the sameportion of the structure 1110 before any damage has occurred. Therepresentations of the virtual 3D digital models 1424 and 1444 may beevaluated or compared by software running on the server 1210 or by ahuman receiver (i.e. a user of the server 1210 via the user interfacedisplay 1218). In some embodiments, the server 1210 may automaticallyidentify the damage based upon an algorithmic comparison of therepresentations of the virtual 3D digital models 1424 and 1444, thenpresent information regarding the damaged portion 1428 to the receiverfor verification. The same user interface display 1418 may likewisepresent various data and/or analysis information 1410 which may bedisplayed on the screen in graphical, numerical, and/or text formats.

FIG. 15 depicts an exemplary virtualization software application tool.The remote user 1510, who may be the owner of a property that has beendamaged, may use a remote server 620 (e.g. the server 1210) using anelectronic device 1530 (e.g. a user electronic device 680 or remotecontrol client 660) that has a software application tool 1538 forenabling user access to virtual models. The software application tool1538, may be a user interactive application that is installed on thedevice 1530 in order to facilitate interaction between user device 1530and the remote server 620. Upon successful connection to the remoteserver 620 the user electronic device 1530 may display on its displayscreen an opening greeting message 1542, which may be received from theremote server 620. A main menu of the user interface screen presentinguser various action options 1544 may be also displayed on the screen ofuser electronic device 1530. The remote server 620 communicates with theuser electronic device 1530 through the communication network 616.

FIG. 16 depicts an exemplary display of an inspected structure via thevirtualization software application tool. Digital information, data, andimages 1622 (including data and images) may be retrieved from the server1220 and associated data storage unit, may be made available to theremote user 1510, through the communication network 616. The user 1510may be an owner of the property 1110 that was damaged (i.e. the damagedstructure 1110). For example, representations of the virtual 3D digitalmodels 1634 of the damaged property 1110 may be displayed on the displayscreen of the user electronic device 1530 for review by the user 1510.Other relevant data and information 1636 may also appear on the displayscreen of the user electronic device 1530 in graphical, numerical,and/or text formats. This may be controlled by a virtualization softwareapplication of the user interactive application 1538 in order tofacilitate interaction between user 1510 and the server 1220.

FIG. 17 illustrates an exemplary view manipulation display of thevirtualization software application tool depicting how the user 1510,may use the user interactive application 1538 to inspect the damagedproperty 1110 from various perspectives and at different zoom factors.The image depicted on the screen of the user electronic device 1530 ofthe user may be a representation of the virtual 3D digital model 1780 ofthe damaged structure 1110 which is a virtual representation of theproperty. Representations of the virtual 3D digital models may bepresented as 2D images on the user electronic device 1510, such as image1734. Such representations of the virtual 3D digital models or virtual3D digital models may be stored at the server 1220 of an insurer andaccessed by a remote user 1510 using the user electronic device 1530.Through the user of control features 1732 on the display screen, theuser can manipulate the image to view it from different perspectives.For example the image may be rotated, zoomed in, zoomed out, ortranslated. Points of interest on the image, such as damaged portions1428 of property, may be indicated or marked. Other relevant data andinformation 1736 may be displayed on the screen in graphical, numerical,and/or text formats. Such information may include, according to anexample, the geographical location coordinates of the damaged property.

FIG. 18 depicts an exemplary communication display of the virtualizationsoftware application tool for an interactive and/or automatic process offiling claims 1870 for property damage. The remote user 1510 may use theuser electronic device 1530 and the user interactive softwareapplication 1538 to communicate with the server 1220 of the insurer inorder to get access information, retrieve images (e.g. image 1834),access a customer account, ask questions, and/or file claims. Similarly,the insurer can communicate with the remote user 1510 through theinteractive application software application 1538 to expedite theprocess of filing the claims for property damage and facilitate effortsof the user 1510 to receive compensation as soon as possible.

FIG. 19 depicts a flow chart of an exemplary remote virtualizationmethod 1900 for identifying, generating, accessing, communicating,and/or presenting data and representations of the virtual 3D digitalmodels to a user. The process 1900 may begin with identifying a physicalstructure associated with a virtual 3D digital model to present to auser (block 1902). The process 1900 may next include generating oraccessing a virtual representation of the physical structure (block1904) and may then continue by communicating the virtual representationto the user (block 1906). The process 1900 may then present to the usera visual representation of the physical structure via a GUI (block1908). The process 1900 may continue by presenting additional visualrepresentations to the user via the GUI in response to user manipulationof the virtual representation (block 1910). Damage to a component of thephysical structure may be identified by comparing the virtual 3D digitalmodel with a previous virtual 3D digital model (block 1912). The usermay receive a user annotation associated with the virtual representation(block 1914). A claim report item may be generated based upon the userannotation (block 1916).

At block 1902, the sever 620 may identify a physical structure to model.The physical structure may be identified as a building, infrastructurecomponent (e.g., a road, a bridge, or power distribution station), orother structure. The physical structure may be identified based upon ageographical location, such as by a street address or by geolocationcoordinates (e.g., coordinates used by GPS systems). In someembodiments, the server 620 may identify the structure to model basedupon receiving a preliminary request from a user indicating the physicalstructure, which for example may be a structure that includes a buildingthat is associated with the user. Such request may be received from auser electronic device 680. Upon receipt of this request by the server620 from the user, the server may transmit communication signals to acontroller device (e.g., the remote control client 660) that isassociated with one or more imaging vehicles 640. Using thesecommunication signals, the server 620 may instruct the imaging vehicle640 to capture one or more images of the structure using the imagingapparatus 644.

Alternatively, the server 620 may identify the physical structure byanalysis of a previously generated virtual 3D digital model. The server620 may evaluate models generated for an area (e.g., a town recentlysuffering flooding) to determine one or more characteristics of each ofa plurality of structures. The determined characteristics may includecharacteristics associated with damage, such as whether the structurehas a roof or whether the structure is immediately surrounded by water.In some embodiments, the characteristics may include proximity to otherstructures or locations of known damage. In further embodiments, thecharacteristics may be generated by comparison of a current (i.e.,post-catastrophe) model with an older (i.e., pre-catastrophe) model,such as by identifying differences in the models beyond a thresholdassociated with significant changes to the structure. The server 620 mayidentify the structure based upon such characteristics by identifyingthe virtual 3D model that includes the virtual 3D model of thestructure. Thus, the server 620 may identify the physical structurebased upon the one or more characteristics associated with the virtual3D model of the structure. In some embodiments, the server 620 maytransmit a message to the user (e.g., to the user electronic device 680)indicating that the a representation of the physical structure isavailable for viewing. Such message may be presented to the user as ane-mail message, an SMS text message, or a notification within a customapplication installed on the user electronic device 680. The server 620may send many such messages to various users at approximately the sametime, and the user may identify the physical structure by selecting anoption to view the visual representation of the virtual 3D digitalmodel. In some embodiments, a user may receive options to view multiplemodels representing various structures or portions of structures, inwhich case the user may select from among the available models.

At block 1904, the server 620 may generate or access a virtualrepresentation of the identified physical structure. In embodiments inwhich the virtual representation is generated, the process of generatingthe virtual 3D digital model and/or a virtual representation of aphysical structure based upon such model may be performed, as discussedelsewhere herein. As part of the process of generating and/or accessingthe virtual representation of the structure using the virtual 3D model,the server 620 may perform polygon simplification on the virtual 3Dmodel until the virtual representation of the physical structure isbelow a data size limit for transmission. Although such process reducesthe level of detail available to the user, such simplification may benecessary to reduce the data to be transmitted. Preferably, such polygonsimplification is implemented in such a manner as to remove details ofthe visual representation for portions of the representation that aredetermined to be unlikely to be damaged. Such determination may involvecomparison with previously generated models, geometric analysis ofsurfaces within the model to identify damaged or undamaged portions(based upon smoothness, symmetry, etc.), or statistical analysis ofknown locations of damage to similarly situated structures.

At block 1906, the server 620 may communicate data including at least aportion of the virtual representation to the user electronic device 680.Such data may be sent to the user as part or all of the virtual 3Ddigital model, a mesh or other encoding of a graphical representation ofthe model, a set of images depicting views of the model, or otherrepresentations of the physical structure based upon the virtual 3Ddigital model. In addition to sending the virtual representation data tothe user, the server 620 may also communicate one or more images of thestructure in some embodiments. For example, the server 620 may transmitan electronic copy of one or more digital images of the structurecaptured by one or more remote imaging vehicles 640. In furtherembodiments, the user may specifically request such images by indicatinga portion of the virtual representation for further assessment, such asa portion of a modeled structure that may be damaged.

At block 1908, the visual representation of the physical structure maybe presented to the user via a GUI running on the user electronic device680. The GUI may be configured to enable the user to manipulate thevirtual representation to view additional perspectives or visualrepresentations of part or all of the a physical structure. Suchpresentation of the physical structure to the user may includegenerating or rendering the relevant portion or portions of the visualrepresentation of the virtual model for display using a display screen,as discussed elsewhere herein. The GUI may be further configured toreceive indications of user manipulation of the visual representationassociated with changes to perspective, such as rotating the virtualrepresentation, zooming in, zooming out, or changing the viewing angle.

At block 1910, the user electronic device 680 may present additionalvisual representations to the user via the GUI in response to usermanipulation of the virtual representation. The GUI may be configured toreceive an indication of a user manipulation of the visualrepresentation, such as changing perspective by swiping the screen orrotating the user electronic device 680. When such an indication isreceived, the GUI may update the visual representation to present anadditional view of the modeled structure to the user. For example, theGUI may render a series of alternate perspectives of the structure asthe user rotates the representation to examine different portions of thestructure. Likewise, the GUI may render a new image as the user zooms inon an area of interest, such as an area that may be damaged. In someembodiments, the GUI may request and receive additional data from theserver 620 in order to present an additional visual representation tothe user. For example, the GUI may request more detail regarding aportion of the structure when the user zooms in on the portion.

At block 1912, the server 620 may identify damage to a component of thephysical structure based upon the virtual 3D digital model of thestructure. The damaged component may be identified by comparing the 3Dmodel with a previous 3D model of the structure that is based upon datacaptured prior to a recent damage-causing event. The server 620 mayaccess a previously generated 3D model of the physical structure thatwas generated prior to any damage and compare this previous 3D modelwith the current 3D model generated using images that were capturedafter the damage. In comparing the two images, the server 620 mayidentify damage to a component of the physical structure based uponidentified differences between the before-the-damage andafter-the-damage 3D models, such as by identifying missing components orchanges in surfaces or edges within the models. In some embodiments, theserver 620 may identify damaged components of the structure based uponevaluation of only the current 3D model by identifying a set of datapoints of the model that do not match expected criteria. For example, aroof may be determined to be missing if the model includes interiorwalls of the structure based upon aerial images (which walls would onlybe visible when the roof is missing). As another example, a brokenwindow may be identified based upon model data indicating edges ofwindowpanes within the interior of the window (indicating broken panes).Information regarding the damaged component may be presented to the useror may be stored for use in insurance claim generation and processing.

At block 1914, the GUI may receive a user annotation associated with thevirtual representation. The user annotation may include informationassociated with a damaged component of the structure or may includeother information relating to the structure, such as informationrelevant to an insurance claim. In some embodiments, the user may beprompted to add an annotation associated with a component identified asdamaged by the server 620. For example, the user may be prompted toverify or describe an extent of such damage. Additionally oralternatively, the user may determine whether and when to add anannotation. The GUI may be configured to receive an annotationassociated with a location within the virtual representation from theuser, in order to indicate a condition of a component of the physicalstructure. The user electronic device 680 may communicate the annotationor an indication thereof to the server 620 via the communication network616. The server 620 may receive an indication of the annotation, whichmay include information regarding the location of the annotation withinthe virtual representation (e.g., a component or a location within thevirtual 3D digital model). The server 620 may store the receivedindication of the annotation in memory associated with the server. Inaddition, the server 620 may utilize the indication of the annotation ingenerating a claim report associated with the structure.

At block 1916, the server 620 or the user electronic device 680 maygenerate a claim report item based upon the virtual 3D digital model ofthe physical structure, which may include information regarding one ormore identified damaged components and one or more user annotations. Oneor more claim report items associated with one or more components of thephysical structure may be generated. These claim report items may begenerated based upon identified damage to components of the structure orbased upon one or more user annotations, which may include locationswithin the virtual representation associated with such annotations. Aclaim report containing one or more claim report items may be compiled,stored, or presented to a reviewer via a display associated with areviewer computing device for review and verification. Upon review andverification, the claim report may be processed to expedite payment ofinsurance claims associated with the physical structure. In someembodiments, the user may be the reviewer, and the claim report may bepresented via the GUI of the user electronic device 680. If the revieweris separate from the user, in some embodiments, the visualrepresentations of the physical structure may be synchronized betweenthe displays of the user and the reviewer. Thus, any manipulation of thevirtual representation by either the user or the reviewer mayautomatically synchronize any additional visual representation betweenboth the user computing device and the reviewer computing device. Thisallows the user and the reviewer to view the same perspective at thesame time, further allowing them to quickly and easily discuss damage tothe structure at different locations. For example, the user and reviewermay discuss likely damage telephonically while viewing coordinatedvisual representations of the structure.

Generally, it is described herein how images are captured by an imagingvehicle of a structure and/or location. After capturing the images, theimaging vehicle may transmit the captured images to a remote server viaa communication network. Using virtual 3D digital modeling software, theserver may construct a virtual 3D digital model of the structure and/orlocation from all the images that the imaging vehicle has captured. Thisvirtual 3D digital model may be accessed by remote users usingvirtualization software applications, and the virtual 3D digital modelmay be used to generate and view representations of the virtual 3Ddigital models of the structure. The representations of the virtual 3Ddigital models of the structure may be generated from the virtual 3Ddigital model by the virtual imaging software of the server. Users maybe able to remotely access these representations of the virtual 3Ddigital models, which may be stored in a storage unit or data base thatis associated with the server. The user can manipulate therepresentations of the virtual 3D digital models to view them fromvarious perspectives, and to compare the before-the-damage images withimages taken after damage has occurred. Thus the user is enabled toremotely communicate with an insurer and/or file an insurance claim.

Other Damage or Loss Assessment

Although the preceding discussion primarily discusses damage assessmentusing Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality (AR), and/or or mixed realityby generating models representing sites, areas, structures, or portionsthereof, other uses of the methods and systems described are envisioned.The methods and systems described above apply equally to other uses withappropriate modifications, primarily modifications to the types ofvirtual objects and data sources used to estimate costs associated withthe damage. In further embodiments, other types of physicalinfrastructure may be similarly assessed, such as bridges, dams,embankments, walls, levies, parking lots, parking garages, docks, ramps,roads, or other infrastructure. Corresponding virtual objects may beindicative of concrete, brick, compact earth, steel, or otherreinforcements, walls, columns, roofs, or beams.

In yet further embodiments, the methods and systems described above maybe applied to vehicles, such as cars, trucks, boats, motorcycles,airplanes, or trains. For example, the virtual objects may correspond tocomponents of a vehicle, such as a windshield, a bumper, a hood, a door,a side view mirror, a wheel, a light housing, a trunk, a roof panel, ora side panel. The user may select, position, and resize the virtualobjects to match damaged components of the vehicle. In some embodiments,the virtual objects may be generic virtual objects representing generalcomponents found in many vehicles. In other embodiments, the virtualobjects may be selected for a specific make and model of vehicle, inorder to better fit the design of the damaged vehicle. In either case,the user may select, place, position, and/or adjust the virtual objectswithin a virtual space representing a physical environment containingthe vehicle. Pointer objects may also be added to indicate furtherconditions, such as broken axels or water damage. From such virtualobjects or pointer objects indicated by the user, the mobile computingdevice may determine the extent of damage and may generate a report, asdiscussed above.

Additional Considerations

Although the preceding text sets forth a detailed description ofnumerous different embodiments, it should be understood that the legalscope of the invention is defined by the words of the claims set forthat the end of this patent. The detailed description is to be construedas exemplary only and does not describe every possible embodiment, asdescribing every possible embodiment would be impractical, if notimpossible. One could implement numerous alternate embodiments, usingeither current technology or technology developed after the filing dateof this patent, which would still fall within the scope of the claims.

It should also be understood that, unless a term is expressly defined inthis patent using the sentence “As used herein, the term ‘______’ ishereby defined to mean . . . ” or a similar sentence, there is no intentto limit the meaning of that term, either expressly or by implication,beyond its plain or ordinary meaning, and such term should not beinterpreted to be limited in scope based on any statement made in anysection of this patent (other than the language of the claims). To theextent that any term recited in the claims at the end of this patent isreferred to in this patent in a manner consistent with a single meaning,that is done for sake of clarity only so as to not confuse the reader,and it is not intended that such claim term be limited, by implicationor otherwise, to that single meaning.

Throughout this specification, plural instances may implementcomponents, operations, or structures described as a single instance.Although individual operations of one or more methods are illustratedand described as separate operations, one or more of the individualoperations may be performed concurrently, and nothing requires that theoperations be performed in the order illustrated. Structures andfunctionality presented as separate components in example configurationsmay be implemented as a combined structure or component. Similarly,structures and functionality presented as a single component may beimplemented as separate components. These and other variations,modifications, additions, and improvements fall within the scope of thesubject matter herein.

Additionally, certain embodiments are described herein as includinglogic or a number of routines, subroutines, applications, orinstructions. These may constitute either software (code embodied on anon-transitory, tangible machine-readable medium) or hardware. Inhardware, the routines, etc., are tangible units capable of performingcertain operations and may be configured or arranged in a certainmanner. In example embodiments, one or more computer systems (e.g., astandalone, client or server computer system) or one or more hardwaremodules of a computer system (e.g., a processor or a group ofprocessors) may be configured by software (e.g., an application orapplication portion) as a hardware module that operates to performcertain operations as described herein.

In various embodiments, a hardware module may be implementedmechanically or electronically. For example, a hardware module maycomprise dedicated circuitry or logic that is permanently configured(e.g., as a special-purpose processor, such as a field programmable gatearray (FPGA) or an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) toperform certain operations. A hardware module may also compriseprogrammable logic or circuitry (e.g., as encompassed within ageneral-purpose processor or other programmable processor) that istemporarily configured by software to perform certain operations. Itwill be appreciated that the decision to implement a hardware modulemechanically, in dedicated and permanently configured circuitry, or intemporarily configured circuitry (e.g., configured by software) may bedriven by cost and time considerations.

Accordingly, the term “hardware module” should be understood toencompass a tangible entity, be that an entity that is physicallyconstructed, permanently configured (e.g., hardwired), or temporarilyconfigured (e.g., programmed) to operate in a certain manner or toperform certain operations described herein. Considering embodiments inwhich hardware modules are temporarily configured (e.g., programmed),each of the hardware modules need not be configured or instantiated atany one instance in time. For example, where the hardware modulescomprise a general-purpose processor configured using software, thegeneral-purpose processor may be configured as respective differenthardware modules at different times. Software may accordingly configurea processor, for example, to constitute a particular hardware module atone instance of time and to constitute a different hardware module at adifferent instance of time.

Hardware modules can provide information to, and receive informationfrom, other hardware modules. Accordingly, the described hardwaremodules may be regarded as being communicatively coupled. Where multipleof such hardware modules exist contemporaneously, communications may beachieved through signal transmission (e.g., over appropriate circuitsand buses) that connect the hardware modules. In embodiments in whichmultiple hardware modules are configured or instantiated at differenttimes, communications between such hardware modules may be achieved, forexample, through the storage and retrieval of information in memorystructures to which the multiple hardware modules have access. Forexample, one hardware module may perform an operation and store theoutput of that operation in a memory device to which it iscommunicatively coupled. A further hardware module may then, at a latertime, access the memory device to retrieve and process the storedoutput. Hardware modules may also initiate communications with input oroutput devices, and can operate on a resource (e.g., a collection ofinformation).

The various operations of example methods described herein may beperformed, at least partially, by one or more processors that aretemporarily configured (e.g., by software) or permanently configured toperform the relevant operations. Whether temporarily or permanentlyconfigured, such processors may constitute processor-implemented modulesthat operate to perform one or more operations or functions. The modulesreferred to herein may, in some example embodiments, compriseprocessor-implemented modules.

Similarly, the methods or routines described herein may be at leastpartially processor-implemented. For example, at least some of theoperations of a method may be performed by one or more processors orprocessor-implemented hardware modules. The performance of certain ofthe operations may be distributed among the one or more processors, notonly residing within a single machine, but deployed across a number ofmachines. In some example embodiments, the one or more processors orprocessor-implemented modules may be located in a single geographiclocation (e.g., within a home environment, an office environment, or aserver farm). In other example embodiments, the one or more processorsor processor-implemented modules may be distributed across a number ofgeographic locations.

Unless specifically stated otherwise, discussions herein using wordssuch as “processing,” “computing,” “calculating,” “determining,”“presenting,” “displaying,” or the like may refer to actions orprocesses of a machine (e.g., a computer) that manipulates or transformsdata represented as physical (e.g., electronic, magnetic, or optical)quantities within one or more memories (e.g., volatile memory,non-volatile memory, or a combination thereof), registers, or othermachine components that receive, store, transmit, or displayinformation.

As used herein any reference to “one embodiment” or “an embodiment”means that a particular element, feature, structure, or characteristicdescribed in connection with the embodiment is included in at least oneembodiment. The appearances of the phrase “in one embodiment” in variousplaces in the specification are not necessarily all referring to thesame embodiment.

Some embodiments may be described using the terms “coupled,”“connected,” “communicatively connected,” or “communicatively coupled,”along with their derivatives. These terms may refer to a direct physicalconnection or to an indirect (physical or communication) connection. Forexample, some embodiments may be described using the term “coupled” toindicate that two or more elements are in direct physical or electricalcontact. The term “coupled,” however, may also mean that two or moreelements are not in direct contact with each other, but yet stillco-operate or interact with each other. Unless expressly stated orrequired by the context of their use, the embodiments are not limited todirect connection.

As used herein, the terms “comprises,” “comprising,” “includes,”“including,” “has,” “having” or any other variation thereof, areintended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion. For example, a process,method, article, or apparatus that comprises a list of elements is notnecessarily limited to only those elements but may include otherelements not expressly listed or inherent to such process, method,article, or apparatus. Further, unless expressly stated to the contrary,“or” refers to an inclusive or and not to an exclusive or. For example,a condition A or B is satisfied by any one of the following: A is true(or present) and B is false (or not present), A is false (or notpresent) and B is true (or present), and both A and B are true (orpresent).

In addition, use of the “a” or “an” are employed to describe elementsand components of the embodiments herein. This is done merely forconvenience and to give a general sense of the description. Thisdescription, and the claims that follow, should be read to include oneor at least one and the singular also includes the plural unless thecontext clearly indicates otherwise.

This detailed description is to be construed as exemplary only and doesnot describe every possible embodiment, as describing every possibleembodiment would be impractical, if not impossible. One could implementnumerous alternate embodiments, using either current technology ortechnology developed after the filing date of this application.

Upon reading this disclosure, those of skill in the art will appreciatestill additional alternative structural and functional designs forsystem and a method for assigning mobile device data to a vehiclethrough the disclosed principles herein. Thus, while particularembodiments and applications have been illustrated and described, it isto be understood that the disclosed embodiments are not limited to theprecise construction and components disclosed herein. Variousmodifications, changes and variations, which will be apparent to thoseskilled in the art, may be made in the arrangement, operation anddetails of the method and apparatus disclosed herein without departingfrom the spirit and scope defined in the appended claims.

The particular features, structures, or characteristics of any specificembodiment may be combined in any suitable manner and in any suitablecombination with one or more other embodiments, including the use ofselected features without corresponding use of other features. Inaddition, many modifications may be made to adapt a particularapplication, situation or material to the essential scope and spirit ofthe present invention. It is to be understood that other variations andmodifications of the embodiments of the present invention described andillustrated herein are possible in light of the teachings herein and areto be considered part of the spirit and scope of the present invention.

Finally, the patent claims at the end of this patent application are notintended to be construed under 35 U.S.C. § 112(f), unless traditionalmeans-plus-function language is expressly recited, such as “means for”or “step for” language being explicitly recited in the claims. Thesystems and methods described herein are directed to an improvement tocomputer functionality, and improve the functioning of conventionalcomputers.

What is claimed is:
 1. A computer-implemented method comprising:receiving a plurality of images of a physical structure, the pluralityof images illustrating damage to the physical structure; generating afirst virtual 3D model of the physical structure based at least in parton the plurality of images, the first virtual 3D model including a firstamount of data; accessing a second virtual 3D model of the physicalstructure, the second virtual 3D model illustrating the physicalstructure without the damage; identifying, based at least in part on adifference between the first virtual 3D model and the second virtual 3Dmodel, a first portion of the first virtual 3D model depicting thedamage to the physical structure; identifying a second portion of thefirst virtual 3D model, exclusive of the first portion, depicting, atleast in part, an undamaged component of the physical structure;generating a third virtual 3D model of the physical structure, whereinthe third virtual 3D model: represents the first portion at a firstlevel of detail, represents the second portion at a second level ofdetail less than the first level of detail, and includes a second amountof data, the second amount of data being less than the first amount ofdata; and transmitting the third virtual 3D model, having the secondamount of data, to an electronic device.
 2. The computer-implementedmethod of claim 1, wherein the electronic device is a first electronicdevice, the method further comprising: transmitting the third virtual 3Dmodel to a second electronic device associated with an insurance claimreviewer; receiving, from the first electronic device or the secondelectronic device, information associated with the first portion;generating an augmented visualization of the third virtual 3D model, theaugmented visualization including the information associated with thefirst portion; storing the augmented visualization; and causing theaugmented visualization to be displayed on the first electronic deviceor the second electronic device.
 3. The computer-implemented method ofclaim 2, wherein the information comprises at least one of: anannotation describing an extent of the damage, a claim report associatedwith the damage, an amount of monetary loss associated with the damage,or an indication of approval by the insurance claim reviewer.
 4. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 2, further comprising: enabling asynchronized view of the augmented visualization on the first electronicdevice and on the second electronic device.
 5. The computer-implementedmethod of claim 2, wherein the information is first information, themethod further comprising: receiving, from the first electronic deviceor the second electronic device, second information indicative of amanipulation of the third virtual 3D model; and based at least in parton the second information: causing a first representation of the thirdvirtual 3D model to be displayed by the first electronic device from afirst perspective, and causing a second representation of the thirdvirtual 3D model to be displayed by the second electronic device fromthe first perspective.
 6. The computer-implemented method of claim 5,wherein the manipulation comprises at least one of: a selection of aportion of the third virtual 3D model; a rotation of the third virtual3D model; an implementation of a zoom factor associated with the thirdvirtual 3D model; or a change in a perspective from which the thirdvirtual 3D model is displayed.
 7. The computer-implemented method ofclaim 1, wherein the second portion is represented at the second levelof detail based on performing a polygon simplification on the firstamount of data.
 8. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, whereinthe second level of detail is selected such that a size of the thirdvirtual 3D model is less than or equal to a data size limit associatedwith a network used to transmit the third virtual 3D model to theelectronic device.
 9. The computer-implemented method of claim 1,further comprising: identifying, based at least in part on thedifference between the first virtual 3D model and the second virtual 3Dmodel, a damaged component of the physical structure; generating aninsurance claim report related to the damaged component; transmittingthe insurance claim report to the electronic device; and receiving, fromthe electronic device, an indication of approval of the insurance claimreport.
 10. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, furthercomprising: receiving, from the electronic device, a request foradditional detail corresponding to the third virtual 3D model; based atleast in part on the request, generating an updated third virtual 3Dmodel, the updated third virtual 3D model representing the secondportion at the first level of detail; and transmitting the updated thirdvirtual 3D model to the electronic device.
 11. A system, comprising: aprocessor; a communication component operably connected to the processorand to a communication network; and a non-transitory program memoryoperably connected to the processor and storing executable instructionsthat, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to performoperations comprising: receiving a plurality of images illustratingdamage to an insured physical structure; generating a first virtual 3Dmodel of the physical structure based at least in part on the pluralityof images, the first virtual 3D model including a first amount of data;identifying a first portion of the first virtual 3D model depicting thedamage to the physical structure; identifying a second portion of thefirst virtual 3D model, excluding the first portion, depicting, at leastin part, an undamaged portion of the physical structure; generating asecond virtual 3D model of the physical structure, wherein the secondvirtual 3D model: represents the first portion at a first level ofdetail, represents the second portion at a second level of detail lessthan the first level of detail, and includes a second amount of data,the second amount of data being less than the first amount of data; andtransmitting, via the communication network, the second virtual 3Dmodel, having the second amount of data, to an electronic device. 12.The system of claim 11, wherein the first virtual 3D model is generatedat a first time, and determining the first portion comprises: accessinga third virtual 3D model of the physical structure, the third virtual 3Dmodel being generated at a second time prior to the first time; anddetermining a difference between the first virtual 3D model and thethird virtual 3D model.
 13. The system of claim 12, wherein thedifference is determined by a statistical analysis of at least one ofedges, vertices, or surfaces represented in both the first virtual 3Dmodel and the third virtual 3D model.
 14. The system of claim 11,wherein the second level of detail is selected based at least in part ona data capacity of the communication network, and the second portion isrepresented at the second level of detail based on performing a polygonsimplification on data.
 15. The system of claim 11, the operationsfurther comprising: transmitting, to the electronic device, instructionsto render a prompt requesting information associated with the damage;receiving, from the electronic device, an annotation in response to theprompt; and generating an augmented visualization of the second virtual3D model, the augmented visualization including the annotation.
 16. Thesystem of claim 15, wherein the electronic device is a first electronicdevice, the operations further comprising: generating, based at least inpart on the annotation, an insurance claim report; transmitting, to asecond electronic device, the augmented visualization and the insuranceclaim report; and receiving, from the second electronic device, anindication of approval of the insurance claim report.
 17. A tangible,non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions that, whenexecuted by a processor, cause the processor to: receive a plurality of2D images illustrating damage to a physical structure; generate a firstvirtual 3D model of the physical structure based at least in part on theplurality of 2D images, the first virtual 3D model including a firstamount of data; determine a difference between the first virtual 3Dmodel and a second virtual 3D model of the physical structure, thesecond virtual 3D model including a representation of the physicalstructure without the damage; identify, based at least in part on alocation of the difference within the first virtual 3D model, a firstportion of the first virtual 3D model depicting the damage to thephysical structure; identify a second portion of the first virtual 3Dmodel, excluding the first portion, depicting, at least in part, anundamaged component of the physical structure; generate a third virtual3D model of the physical structure, wherein the third virtual 3D model;represents the first portion at a first level of detail, represents thesecond portion at a second level of detail less than the first level ofdetail, and includes a second amount of data, the second amount of databeing less than the first amount of data; and transmit the third virtual3D model, having the second amount of data, to an electronic device. 18.The tangible, non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 17,wherein the second level of detail is based least in part on a datacapacity associated with the electronic device.
 19. The tangible,non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 17, wherein the thirdvirtual 3D model enables manipulation comprising at least one of: aselection of a portion of the third virtual 3D model; a rotation of thethird virtual 3D model; a change to a zoom factor associated with thethird virtual 3D model; or a change to a perspective from which thethird virtual 3D model is displayed.
 20. The tangible, non-transitorycomputer-readable medium of claim 17, the instructions further causingthe processor to: determine, based at least in part on the differencebetween the first virtual 3D model and the second virtual 3D model, adamaged component of the physical structure; generate an insurance claimreport related to the damaged component; transmit the insurance claimreport to the electronic device; and receive, from the electronicdevice, an indication of approval of the insurance claim report.
 21. Asystem, comprising: a means for electronic communication via acommunication network; a means for storing executable instructions; ameans for displaying a 3D model; and a means for executing theexecutable instructions, the means for executing being configured to:receive a plurality of images illustrating a damage to an insuredphysical structure; generate a first virtual 3D model of the physicalstructure based at least in part on the plurality of images, the firstvirtual 3D model including a first amount of data; determine a firstportion of the first virtual 3D model depicting the damage to thephysical structure; identify a second portion of the first virtual 3Dmodel, excluding the first portion, depicting, at least in part, anundamaged portion of the physical structure; generate a second virtual3D model of the physical structure, wherein the second virtual 3D model:represents the first portion at a first level of detail, represents thesecond portion at a second level of detail less than the first level ofdetail, and includes a second amount of data, the second amount of databeing less than the first amount of data; and transmit, by the means forelectronic communication, the second virtual 3D model, having the secondamount of data, to the means for displaying.
 22. The system of claim 21,wherein the first virtual 3D model is generated at a first time, anddetermining the first portion comprises: accessing a third virtual 3Dmodel of the physical structure, the third virtual 3D model beinggenerated at a second time prior to the first time; and determining adifference between the first virtual 3D model and the third virtual 3Dmodel.
 23. The system of claim 21, the means for executing being furtherconfigured to: receive information associated with the first portion,wherein the information comprises at least one of: an annotationdescribing an extent of the damage, a claim report associated with thedamage, an amount of monetary loss associated with the damage, or anindication of approval by an insurance claim reviewer; generate anaugmented visualization of the second virtual 3D model, the augmentedvisualization including the information associated with the firstportion; and cause the augmented visualization to be displayed on themeans for displaying.